CFAR stands for Contract For American Renewal.

It is contract but not a legal instrument. It is an electoral device.

The contract should be the centerpiece of the people’s candidate’s campaign. Front and center at all public appearances, featured in all ads, on the front page of campaign websites.

The CFAR sets the people’s candidate completely apart from his or her opponents.

The CFAR gives the people’s candidate credibility.

The CFAR discredits his opponents, especially major party opponents. It makes vividly clear that the people’s candidate is indeed on the side of the people, his/her opponents mostly blowing smoke.

The CFAR is a people’s candidate’s end run around the big stashes of campaign donations, the propaganda machinery of the major party candidates, the slavish devotion of the media to establishment campaign themes and memes.

The CFAR is the people’s candidate redefining the main narrative of a campaign, offering a much-needed, much-welcome dose of reality to the voting public. It confronts, exposes, and destroys empty rhetoric, misleading slogans, hollow campaign promises, hypnotic word salad, replacing all of the usual fluff put out by establishment candidates with what really, truly matters to the vast majority of American citizens.

The CFAR is an ironclad agreement between the people’s candidate and his/her future constituents, consisting of high priority initiatives supported by 60-88% of the voting public.

As a contract, it will be taken very seriously by the voting public. The people’s candidate should and must make it central to his/her campaign. It is a bond of trust, a bond of service, the marching orders of the voting public, spelling out exactly what the people’s candidate will be doing from the day he/she arrives in Washington DC.

The CFAR is a line in the sand. The establishment spews hot air. The CFAR candidate offers an unambiguous commitment of service.

The people’s candidate, if he/she is to defeat the opponents and win the election, must go to the people and using the Contract For American Renewal, declare his absolute loyalty to the voting public. The people’s candidate establishes in black-and-white — in an ironclad agreement — his or her unwavering commitment to serve the people, not the banks, not Wall Street, not the war profiteers, not the ruling elite.

No empty rhetoric. No excuses. No fear.

Let me now clarify something VERY VERY IMPORTANT that everyone — non-establishment candidates, their supporters, and the vothing public — needs to understand.

The CFAR electoral strategy cannot and will not be adopted by an establishment candidate — not the whole strategy or any part of it.

It is impossible!

If any establishment candidate tries to somehow weave the CFAR strategy into his or her “bag of tricks” — especially a candidate vetted and selected by the Democratic or Republican party elites — he or she 1) will lose the donations of the deep-pocketed ruling and corporate elite; 2) can kiss good-bye the backing of the major parties and their blitzkrieg campaign machinery; 3) will watch their favored treatment by the media evaporate; 4) see endorsements by the usual cast of establishment lapdogs withdrawn.

There’s a more stark way to put this: Establishment candidates cannot and will not sign the Contract For American Renewal.

This reality is what makes the CFAR strategy so powerful!

It puts CFAR candidates in a class of their own. They rise above, stand apart from, function on a different plane than their establishment opponents. They transcend the hollow spectacle, the fakery and foibles that contemporary campaigns have become.

When this special status is handled correctly, this gives them a huge leg up on their establishment opponents. The contrast exposes just how hollow and meaningless what their opponents are saying, how dishonest and hypocritical their campaign promises, slogans, and memes are.

The Contract For American Renewal draws a big line in the sand.

On one side are the establishment candidates.

On the other side are the people’s candidates.

The establishment candidates are on the side of the ruling elites, the corporate totalitarians, money and power.

The people’s candidates are on the side of the people, the vast majority of American citizens — the 99%.

The establishment candidates are on the side of and will continue to take money from and work exclusively for the wealthy, Wall Street, the big banks, the corporate monopolies, the special interests groups, and completely ignore the welfare of the rest of us.

The people’s candidate are on the side of, will listen to, report to, and faithfully and exclusively serve “we the people”.

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, now available at fine bookstores everywhere. Look for it! ]

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To understand and appreciate the CFAR electoral campaign strategy, why it is needed, how it is designed, why it will work, requires us to take a clear-headed, coldly objective look at how our corrupt system now functions. We must examine what advantages establishment candidates currently have and why this mutilation of the democratic process is so effective and consequently is kept in place.

Establishment candidates, those offered by the Democrats and Republicans, are backed by tons of money, most of it coming from deep-pocketed donors, corporations, special interest groups — conduits of control by the ultra-wealthy ruling elite.

Establishment candidates have powerful and highly effective electoral machinery, major party mechanisms developed and perfected over decades for achieving victory at the polls.

Establishment candidates have the full attention and backing of the monopolistic media, also owned and controlled by the ruling elite.

Establishment candidates have powerful public relations firms, teams of psychologists, speech writers, image consultants, campaign consultants, spin doctors, pundits and propagandists to present them in the most favorable and appealing light.

Establishment candidates are currently in power, giving them the enormous advantage of heightened visibility, access vertically and horizontally to all of the institutions needed to keep them in the public eye and spit-shine their image for voters.

The first, extremely important fact for our people’s candidates to accept is this: There is no way they can go toe-to-toe with their establishment opponents. The establishment has created the game, made the rules, and has a total lock on the whole process. This is their game, the game is rigged, the house always wins, we the people lose.

The only way to fight this is . . . CREATE OUR OWN GAME!

That’s right. A different playing board. Different rules. Our rules!

And it must be a game that the voting public finds compelling. Irresistible. Hopeful. Rewarding. The voting public must see it as a much welcome drink of water — beer? — after forever being thirsty.

The CFAR strategy delivers exactly this. It changes the narrative. It changes the playing field. It changes the game. It pulls people in, engages them, enlists them, gives them hope, and guarantees results.

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published June 20th. Look for it! ]

Getting on the ballot is the most basic, absolutely essential challenge faced by non-establishment — people’s — candidates. If they don’t make the cut and are not on the ballot, it’s game over.

There are three ways to get “people’s candidates” on the ballot.

First option is to use primaries. That is, run them in the next primary against one of the major party opponents. When our people’s candidate wins the primary, it doesn’t matter whether he or she is Republican or Democrat. In neither case will the major party offer any assistance, endorsement, or financial backing. Our people’s candidate’s stand on key issues is too far removed what a major party’s official positions are. Our candidates are entirely on their own. But at least they’re on the ballot. The advantages are that 1) the “wasting your vote on a sure loser” criticism doesn’t apply, since the candidate is on a major party ticket, and 2) he or she will pick up a significant chunk of the knee-jerk vote, the voters who automatically vote party line regardless of who is on the major party ticket.

Second option is to run the candidates as “third party”, e.g. as a Green or Libertarian or other minor party candidate. Again, ballot access is the goal. As long as the minor party has met the requirements of the district (House candidates) or state (Senate candidates), our people’s candidate is good to go. For different reasons, our candidate can expect little help from the party. Minor parties typically are grossly underfunded, are understaffed and not particularly well organized, and have a poor relationship with the media. They have no well-oiled election machinery, locally or nationally, to get out the votes. The advantage is our candidate avoids the stigma of being associated with a major party. All those “independent” voters out there will take notice.

Third option is to put them on the ballot as an independent. This is probably the most difficult. Congressional districts and states, with prompting by the two major parties, frequently make it a hellish process to apply and qualify to get on the ballot. Excessively high application fees and onerous signature requirements are intended to discourage anyone from challenging the Democrat-Republican duopoly. Despite that, many independents have run in the past and even more will be on the ballot for the coming election. Again, he advantage for the non-establishment candidate is not being affiliated with either major party — or any party, for that matter — and not being saddled with either the stigma of a party affiliation, or any possible conflict with the official platform of a party, major or minor. The people’s candidate is able to put forth exactly what he or she stands for and intends to do when elected, free of interference.

These, then, are the three options for ballot access.

But please recognize …

Getting on the ballot is just the very first step.

It is equivalent to an Olympic runner putting on and lacing up his shoes before the race. The really difficult, serious challenges lay ahead.

From this point forward demands awe-inspiring levels of dedication and incredibly hard work.

Moreover …

If any of this is to have any chance of success, it will require a compelling, decisive, game-changing strategy. Something so different, so outside-the-box, so unanticipated, something no major party candidate or establishment organization could possibly see coming.

THIS is exactly what the CFAR electoral campaign strategy equips the non-establishment people’s candidate with.

The CFAR strategy is unprecedented, completely unique, powerful, uncompromising, and if followed faithfully, is a non-establishment candidate’s best shot — against all odds — at winning the election.

Let’s get to work, folks!

Let’s get people’s candidates on the ballot.

Let’s put the CFAR campaign strategy to work for them.

Let’s spread the word that government by the people has arrived.

Let’s get our candidates elected and take over the centers of power.

Let’s put our country back on the path of real democracy.

Let’s take pride again in our country as the America it should be.

No excuses. No compromises. No fear.

Because if we pull this off …

WE WILL CHANGE HISTORY!

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published June 20th. Look for it! ]

Before we get into the specifics of the CFAR strategy and how it can win elections for non-establishment candidates, let’s clear our heads. Get rid of the “fog” that’s been pumped into the air around us.

Labels are a bad joke. And the joke is on us.

What does it mean to be a Democrat or liberal? It used to mean opposition to war and open-mindedness to promising alternative ways of thinking. Now it means perpetual war, hating Russia and China, thinking genocide is just fine if it’s Israel doing the slaugher. What?

And what does it mean to be a Republican? It used to be the party of the business class. Now we have MAGA, working class folks actually believing that the plunderers at the top are magically going to put America and the welfare of everyday citizens at the top of their agenda. What?

We’ve been taught to hate socialism. What’s a socialist? Can the average person give anything resembling a coherent definition of socialism, other than it’s bad and we should hate it. We are told we should save our most intense hatred for communists, who are the same as fascists. You know, like Putin and Hitler and Xi Jinping. What?

Labels have been used to confuse us, mislead us, divide us.

Same with party affiliation.

Let’s make it simple.

Drop all the labels.

Forget party affiliations.

Look at the problems.

Identify the solutions.

Find individuals who will implement those solutions.

Democrat? Republican? Libertarian? Green? Independent?

Who cares?

What matters is solving the problems!

What matters is fixing the mess!

What matters is establishing a government that works for “the people”, not Wall Street, not the military-industrial complex, not the investment bankers and hedge fund managers, not the CEOs and Silicon Valley technocrats.

A government that works for all of us!

What matters is having individuals in government who listen to, are loyal to, who will exclusively and faithfully serve “we the people”!

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published by the end of this month. Look for it! ]

As you probably know, the other name for “the spoiler vote” playbook is “lesser evil voting”.

In our example, Jill Stein was for many voters, the much preferred candidate. But taking her out of the equation, Kamala Harris was judged as a “lesser evil” than Donald Trump.

Jill Stein, it was pointed out, like most minor-party candidates had a very slim chance of winning the election.

Therefore: Don’t throw your vote away. Don’t take chances. Forget about voting for Jill Stein. Vote for the “lesser evil” Kamala Harris.

In some very narrow, short-term, short-sighted fashion, this is a rational calculation.

But in the big picture, it is completely irrational and self-sabotaging. It is exactly why we’re now where we’re at. Not just related to presidential politics but all the way down the line. When “alternative” candidates are subtracted from the equation, innovation and reform are impossible. Because what we end up with is the same ol’ same ol’. We never get fresh thinking, creative solutions, visionary leadership. We get safe, middle of the road, lackluster, “focus group tested”, unambitious proposals and policies.

There have been throughout our history non-establishment political aspirants, independent thinkers, men and women with phenomenal ideas and imagination, usually far off the beaten path of the mainstream. They’ve been sidelined or otherwise removed from the political scene — sometimes by assassination — typically by establishment politicos and/or their ruling class masters, people who fear change or would be disadvantaged by genuine reform, things which would benefit the vast majority of Americans. Eugene Debs, Henry Wallace, Paul Wellstone, Jesse Jackson, and Martin Luther King Jr. immediately come to mind.

The way it works now is voters do the culling. Out of fear they’ll be “throwing their vote away”, voters sideline the reformers themselves.

And nothing gets fixed. Nothing of consequence gets done. The rich and powerful get richer and more powerful. We the people get screwed.

There’s a powerful lesson in this …

The lesser evil is still evil.

And whether it’s just a little evil or a lot of evil, no good ever comes from evil. End of story!

I’m hoping people will wake up to this fact. It’s pretty obvious. Equally obvious is who is behind the “spoiler vote” and “lesser evil” nonsense, how it serves their anti-democratic, anti-American agenda.

I also believe the CFAR electoral strategy will be instrumental in helping people to wake up, and moreover give them a solid foundation and method for instituting and embracing real democracy.

Because the CFAR strategy creates real choice at the polls.

The CFAR strategy guarantees that those who we vote into power will faithfully and exclusively serve the voters who elect them.

The CFAR strategy will produce representatives who truly represent. Who listen to, answer to, report to, take their marching orders from “we the people”!

Maybe we will be able to “wake up” from the nightmare our current political system has become, after all.

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published by the end of this month. Look for it! ]

Let me draw attention to two items which require some focused discussion.

First, it is inaccurate for me to suggest there is no choice at the polls. Actually, there are 33 parties in the U.S. with ballot access, meaning they are able to put candidates in local, state or federal elections. Like me, you’ve probably never heard of most of them. But technically, at least so far, we are free to vote for the candidates of these minor parties.

A more accurate characterization of the voting environment would be this: The voting public does not acknowledge, often does not know about, the alternatives to voting for the two major parties.

Moreover, if the thought of voting third party should occur to anyone, they are frightened out of actually doing it.

The method is as effective as it is destructive of true democracy.

Let’s take as an example the most recent presidential election in 2024. Many “liberals” were not at all thrilled at the prospect of Kamala Harris as our president. They would have preferred to vote for Jill Stein, who offered a far-reaching range of genuine reforms. At the same time, they were absolutely horrified at the prospect of Trump winning the presidency again. We don’t have to get into the gory details on any of this to see how the option of voting for Jill Stein was destroyed. The Democratic Party persuaded all but the most determined Jill Stein supporters that voting for her would subtract votes from Kamala Harris, guaranteeing a Trump victory. A vote for Stein would be a “spoiler vote”, one that would spoil the election, installing a greedy, lying, foolish, power drunk, reckless, unqualified, narcissistic president.

This scenario plays out again and again, at all levels, in all contests where there’s a third-party or independent candidate in the running.

Which brings me to the second item I wanted to mention.

It is true that more and more people are severing their ties with the two major parties and are identifying themselves as unaffiliated, or more colloquially, as “independent”. A 2025 Gallup poll tallied 45% of voters making this claim.

But at election time, the statistics don’t come close to reflecting this.

Combining all recorded third-party and independent votes typically nets between 4% and 8% of the total number of votes cast.

The point is, lots of folks like to think of themselves as independent of the two major parties, but when they get in the voting booth, it’s a different story. Old habits die slowly … especially when driven by fear.

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published by the end of this month. Look for it! ]

It is the recognition of the value of every individual on the planet for just being a human being and thus having agency both personally and in terms of the institutions of society, that is the fundamental underpinning of the democratic way. It is this a priori proposition on which American democracy is allegedly built.

Unfortunately, theory and practice currently are quite at odds.

“The people” have in recent decades been deemed as increasingly irrelevant; have been marginalized, disenfranchised, disempowered.

This is not an accident.

It is the calculated work of a small band of anti-democratic elites, who fanatically believe in their own aristocratic entitlement, who are certain that their wealth and status demands that everyone else step aside and let them run the show.

Donald Trump in his presidential bids said a lot of the things people wanted to hear. He made wild but highly appealing campaign promises and hypnotized a sufficient number of people with ingenious messaging.

One of the memes he frequently floated in his 2016 campaign was that “the system is rigged.” Well, people figured, he should know! He’s right in the thick of the billionaire class, the ones doing the rigging. The implication was he knew how it was rigged, therefore he would know how to “unrig” it. It was assumed, against a lot of obvious evidence to the contrary, that he would turn his back on his privileged colleagues and fight for everyday American citizens.

As is apparent now, it was all empty rhetoric. Trump has turned on “the people” — his MAGA base and all the gullible voters who voted him into office, TWICE! — like a rabid dog. He’s broken practically every promise and is with the vultures he keeps as friends, continuing to loot the country, grab even more power and position themselves for more predation and subjugation of the rest of us — “we the people”.

Indeed, the system is rigged!

Here’s the current ugly, very disturbing reality.

Congress is owned by the predators, the White House is in the grip of a monomaniacal, self-serving narcissist. The courts, the military, the Deep State, the intel agencies, the media, are all totally controlled by the ruthless, self-serving, self-enriching .1%.

It’s a grim and disheartening picture.

What can we do? Is there a way out of this prison?

There’s one promising aspect of our current situation.

We are constantly reminded that America is a democracy.

The truth is our current system in reality isn’t. It is an oligarchy, as established over a decade ago in a cogent, objective study by Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin Page (Northwestern University of how our pseudo-democracy in practice works. How the will of the great majority of citizens makes not one whit of difference in what laws are passed and what direction the country takes.

Understand that there’s a very good reason why the “illusion” that America is a democracy is so aggressively sold to us by the current corrupt political class and a media.

It’s a matter of survival for those in power. Of keeping the current status quo in place. That is, it is imperative that the vast majority of U.S. citizens believe they have a say in the running of the country, that they do this by choosing who will go to Washington DC and do what needs to be done: Passing laws, enforcing laws and regulations, keeping a guiding hand and watchful eye on all that goes on to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

Most people buy into this charade. They take it as a given that they are genuinely participating in “self-government”. They believe that by going to the polls every two years and voting, they are exercising their rights and privileges as a citizen, that they are deciding the direction of the country.

This, of course, is a myth.

Voting? Sure, we get to choose whether we want the Democrats or the Republicans to control Congress and occupy the White House.

But it is here that we discover just how rigged the system truly is!

Because the ruling class completely owns and controls both of the two major political parties. Sure we get to choose. We get to choose between candidates, who regardless of whether they are Democrats or Republicans, who despite inconsequential differences on some issues, will go to Washington DC, ignore the will of the voters on the truly important issues, and exclusively do the bidding of their deep-pocketed, ruling class puppet masters.

Do you need proof?

Whether the Democrats or Republicans are in power, the important things never change. The rich get richer; the rest of us get poorer; the corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay virtually no taxes and get all sorts of subsidies and perks; the everyday citizens pay for the bulk of our bloated federal budget; the wars keep going, draining our nation of its wealth; the national debt — which WE THE PEOPLE are ultimately on the hook for — keeps ballooning; our share of America’s colossal wealth keeps shrinking — reduced services and benefits to the 99%; health costs keep increasing; wages remain stagnant or decline; the nation’s infrastructure we all depend on continues to decay; public education degrades; quality higher education becomes more and more unaffordable; good-paying jobs keep disappearing; on and on.

Yes, how wonderful! We get to choose. We get to choose which candidate will ignore and betray us, which candidate will charm and overwhelm us with empty campaign promises, pleasant sounding word salad, clever sound bites — “the system is rigged” — inspiring memes — Make America Great Again! — then screw us over.

They lay it on thick. We are constantly reminded: “You must either vote Democrat or vote Republican. Yes, there are some on the lunatic fringe out there. Green Party, Libertarian, Peace Party, Socialists. But unless you’re a fruitcake like one of them, just vote for one of the major parties and everything will be alright.

Yeah, right!

Everything isn’t alright. Lately, everything has become a gigantic, foul, stinking mess.

But it seems people are actually beginning to wake up. Over the past couple decades, an increasing number of folks have dropped their major party affiliation and now identify as “independent”. Credible opinion polls put it at around 45% of eligible voters.

Yes, people are waking up. Fool me once. Fool me twice. Fool me a thousand times! It’s becoming more and more apparent that we are being conned, lied to, manipulated. The two major parties have not been there for us, for at least three decades, arguably more. And there’s no prospect of that changing, for either of them coming around and working for us — “we the people” — despite all the pretty promises, rhetorical fluff, excuses, fairy tales and PR spin that both the Democrats and Republicans now churn out.

Recognizing the problem is a good start.

But we have a way to go.

It’s one thing to be fed up with the way the current system works and another to do something about it.

We need a strategy which does an end run around the stranglehold of the two major parties — the duopoly. A strategy which counters the propaganda and puerile messaging we are bombarded with by the both the Democrats and Republican, and their bootlickers in the media. A strategy which embraces the priorities and values of the voting public. A strategy that with good reason wins their confidence and trust.

This book offers just such a strategy.

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published by the end of this month. Look for it! ]

Introduction: “We the people . . .”

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

That’s the Preamble to the Constitution.

Notably, it does not say . . . we the oligarchs.

Or . . . we the plutocrats.

Or . . . we the ruling elite.

Or . . . we the aristocrats.

Or . . . we the CEOs.

Or . . . we the Wall Street speculators.

Or . . . we the war profiteers.

Or . . . we the political class.

Or . . . we the technocrats.

Granted, “the people” has undergone quite a substantial evolution over the 250-year history of our nation.

Originally, some “people” had more say over the affairs of the U.S. than others.

Women weren’t allowed to vote until August 18, 1920, with the ratification of the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution.

Slaves were not people at the founding, rather they were property. Until the 1863, they were non-citizens and had zero rights. Even for apportioning congressional districts — done by population — a slave was constitutionally deemed as 3/5^ths of a person. They were finally freed from bondage when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863. The 13^th Amendment made that constitutionally binding, the 14^th Amendment made former slaves full citizens, and the 15^th Amendment gave blacks the right to vote.

There have been other notable shifts toward inclusivity.

Such dramatic changes are not symptomatic of a flawed system. On the contrary, they are signals that our system is flexible, subject to revision and modernization. As we intellectually embrace new norms and a heightened world view, views of government and its relationship to everyone living within our borders evolve. The system adapts.

Recognize, that most of the reforms, most conspicuously the freeing of the slaves and women’s suffrage, were not “top down” dictates. As with more recently the civil rights movement, they reflected new values embraced by increasingly large segments of the populace at large. It was “the people” who saw the need and demanded these changes.

Which points to the historically unique promise made to the world by what we colloquially call “democracy”.

Gone were the monarchs, the despots, the authoritarians.

“We the people” would now call the shots.

It is the recognition of the value of every individual on the planet for just being a human being and thus having agency both personally and in terms of the institutions of society, that is the fundamental underpinning of the democratic way. It is this a priori proposition on which American democracy is allegedly built.

Government of the people.

Government by the people.

Government for the people.

WE THE PEOPLE!

[ This is an excerpt from my latest book, The CFAR Electoral Campaign Strategy, to be published by the end of this month. Look for it! ]

We all know that regardless of what deceptive rhetoric, what pleasant sounding word salad the spin doctors come up with, the Republican Party is the party of the ruling elite, the corporatists, big money, big banks, big business, the MIC, big pharma, Wall Street, the hedge funds, the banksters. We’ve seen it with the Orange Maggot, who said also sorts of wonderful things, appealed to his MAGA base, made pretty promises to all of us regular folks, then TURNED ON THE PEOPLE LIKE A RABID DOG! And this human wrecking ball isn’t even halfway through his presidential term.

What people have been slow to realize — but who appear finally to be waking up to — is what is stated so clearly in the brilliant posting by Power to the People on Twitter/X, at the top of this article.

It’s a horrifying indictment of what used to be the party who defended us against the moneyed interests, the predator class, the war profiteers, the callous and inhumane aristocracy. It’s a really ugly picture of what was once the party of labor unions, the working class, the good, decent everyday citizens of our country.

But it is what it is.

The Democratic Party has abandoned the people. It started decades ago, accelerated under Bill Clinton, and we are where we are now. There is no opposition party now. Both parties work exclusively for — are “owned” by — the ruling elite, and promote class warfare, totalitarianism and total subjugation of the vast majority of everyday Americans.

The peddlers of the “spoiler vote” myth would have it that trying to vote our way out of this two-party tyranny by voting third-party or independent is self-sabotaging.

“Don’t even think about it! You’ll end up with X. And he’s EVEN WORSE THAN Y.”

But I’ll come right out with it. Here’s what I have to say about this bullshit . . .

The critical flaw in the “spoiler” argument is this: They’ve got it backwards. The spoiler is not voting for a third party or independent. The spoiler is voting for either major party. Because voting for either Democrats or Republicans guarantees a continuation of corporate enslavement, skyrocketing wealth inequality, perpetual war, the looting of our national wealth, the decline in quality of life for the vast majority of Americans, and ultimately the collapse of the American economy.

Sure, there are differences in the two major parties. But they’re differences that don’t make a difference. Not in the big picture. They sure as hell don’t make a difference in the declining living standards for everyday Americans, the shrinking job market, the lack of affordable universal health care, the gutting of our public education system, the lack of access to good quality higher education for most of us, on and on.

Which means . . .

Breaking the stranglehold of the two party system, thinking like a real citizen and exercising the right to vote meaningfully in a functioning democracy, offers at least some meager hope that things will substantially change and we can put the country back on track. Voting major party is TRULY a wasted vote . . . THAT is the actual “spoiler vote”. Don’t get sucked in by this gross deception and crass manipulation.

Now the hard part.

To exercise the option of voting third party or independent and have it genuinely result in the necessary reforms and desired changes, requires having honest, qualified, dedicated, effective candidates on the ballot, who when elected will faithfully serve we the people.

And getting them on the ballot is up to us.

Both major parties will only make available corporate shills, puppets to the ruling class and its oppressive, predatory agenda. That’s an ugly, unfortunate reality.

So we the people need to put OUR candidates of choice on the ballot.

I’ve proposed mechanisms for doing this. I’ve written here on Substack extensively on this very topic.

If you’re at all interested in taking back our democracy, putting control of government where is was intended to be, meaning in our hands, the hands of “the people” then please look at what I’ve developed over the past 12 years. Below are three short cuts, though they only represent a start.

I can’t condense 12 years of work and entire electoral strategies into a tweet or comment. The establishment has spent 50 years taking our democracy apart and creating the apparatus to divide, control, and oppress us. It takes more than a meme or bumper sticker to undo this thick web of ruthless oppression and despotic rule.

Here are three links if you’re interested.

No Contract No Vote

A Nation at Peace

Peace Dividend Strategy

Democracy has been severely hobbled, if not completely disactivated, in America. Elections have become, as Ralph Nader put it, a choice between Tweedledee and Tweedledum. We do not have a real choice at the polls. We have two major parties and both exclusively represent the interests of the corporate elite and ruling class.

The voting public, however, has been prevented from breaking the deadlock of this “duopoly” by fear. That fear was generated in a demonization of Nader himself after the 2000 election debacle. Allegedly, the votes he attracted were responsible for George W Bush getting elected.

The facts tell a different story. It was a historically unprecedented, indefensible decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that installed Bush. Moreover, it has been established statistically that the support for Nader was negligible in determining the outcome of the election, that it was actually a huge segment of Democratic voters who flipped and voted for Bush.

Nevertheless, paranoia about what has been dubbed “spoiler voting” persists, actively promoted by the media and the two major parties, both of which want no challenge from outside their guarded and controlled electoral arena.

In 2016, Jill Stein running as the Green Party presidential candidate, was a major casualty of the spoiler vote myth. I was appalled by both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and got actively involved.

In fact, I was closely connected to the Jill Stein campaign. I had established an association with Stein’s personal assistant, the lady who sat beside Jill every single day, at every meeting and campaign event. So what I’m reporting is completely credible.

I saw Stein facing two gigantic obstacles in her presidential bid: 1) Vast numbers of Americans had no idea who she was, and 2) those who did know her and her highly laudable political views were afraid to vote for her. They would be “throwing their vote away” and end up electing Trump, who they hated even more than Clinton.

I presented a workaround to the campaign managers through my contact. It was called the “I’ll vote for Jill if you will” Pledge Campaign.

The concept was simple and straightforward.

It consisted of a massive pledge campaign. People would commit to vote for Stein if a sufficient number of others likewise committed to vote for her. Because it was a presidential election, the threshold was set at 50,000,000 which I judged sufficient for her to be one of the top two performers. The signers would vote for her if 50,000,000 or more voters signed the pledge. If fewer than 50,000,000 signed it, signers were free to vote for whichever corrupt, corporate lapdog they preferred.

I even set up pledge signing petitions at Change.org, RootsAction.org, and iPetitions.com.

Without a doubt, Stein’s campaign represented the best of America, promising a major shift from the disastrous course the country was on. It was awe-inspiring and hopeful. It held out the prospect of saving America from ruin!

But we need not wonder why she did so poorly in the election. True, the media refused to cover her. Yes, she was barred from the widely-watched debates.

And . . .

I was informed by her campaign managers that as far as they were concerned, there was no real threat of people buying into the “spoiler vote nonsense”. They did give my idea some exposure on Stein’s campaign page, on page 28.

But they gutted the whole idea it by mainly promoting a pure “I’ll vote for Jill” pledge campaign — on the front page — missing the whole point of the tactic. Whatever.

I still ask myself: How could such intelligent people — and she had some very sharp individuals on her staff — be so clueless, myopic . . . so STUPID?

Every single person I talked to back then said the same thing: “You’re supporting Stein? So you’re going to give the election to Trump like Nader gave it to Bush?” I even lost two good friends over this.

Anyway . . . water under the bridge.

I’m not posting this as a woe-is-me appeal for sympathy.

I’m posting this as an antidote to the widespread cynicism, the brainwashing of the voting public with the “spoiler vote nonsense”. The fear is real. The fear is an obstacle to voting third-party or independent. So let’s deal with it.

In any race — local, state, national — just set up a “I’ll vote for Steve if you will” or a “I’ll vote for Francine if you will” pledge campaign. Set the threshold for triggering the honoring of the pledge at 40% of the total number of eligible voters, and you’re on your way. People cannot claim they’re “throwing their vote away” if there are thousands of other voters who have signed the pledge.

Yes, it’s hard work.

Yes, democracy — real democracy — is hard work.

But I’m tired of hearing “Impossible to fix, the system is rigged.” . . . or . . . “Money controls politics, there’s nothing we can do.” . . . or any such defeatist proclamations.

Surrender guarantees failure!

I think we’re smart enough to DO SOMETHING.

Something is impossible . . . until it’s not.

What do YOU think?

Some intelligent, thoughtful comments would be appreciated.

What does the title mean?

Who knows? Great title, though!

I’ve been thinking about Mother’s Day gifts.

Last year, I went out on a limb during the Christas holidays by making a unique recommendation of a gift for the “person who has everything” — which is just about everybody with a credit card. To put it mildly, what I personally thought was a great find — the Deluxe Home Lobotomy Kit from Black & Decker — drew a firestorm of criticism.

This stemmed not per se from the calming effects of the lobotomy itself, but from some of the side effects — the uncontrollable, steady drooling and the shameless fixation on genital areas, both those of the lobotomized and anyone in visual range.

Frankly, I recall seeing both of these annoying symptoms almost everywhere I went when I lived in America, and while I’m just ballparking it here, I’d say they afflict way beyond 50% of the population over 25. It seems unlikely that all of these folks have been lobotomized, not surgically anyway.

But I can take criticism without getting all weepy. So this time, while my latest recommendation is somewhat along the same lines, I’m confident that while still tuned into the needs of “people who have everything”, I’m considerably more sensitive to the need to avoid embarrassing and unattractive side effects.

Along the same lines as a lobotomy?

Quite honestly, considering the abundance of entertainment, diversions, computer games, movies, music, videos, social sites, simulations, AI, live shows, virtual shows, virtual reality, reality shows, and every conceivable form of spectacle, stimulation, illusion, fantasy, recreation, getaway, escape, meditation, discovery, rediscovery, relaxation, rejuvenation, regeneration, reboot, invention, reinvention, on and on, I’m genuinely astounded by how much disorientation, distemper, disorder, dismay, dysfunction, anxiety, and fitful frenzy appears to overwhelm the average person, just trying to make it from one end of the day to the other.

We’re talking . . . MAJOR STRESS!

I guess it could be that very abundance of so many ways to bludgeon the brain into being delighted which is the source of the problem.

That’s neither here nor there. The result is the same.

People are desperate to deal with it and will go to great lengths to do so. Just look at the opioid epidemic which the U.S. is now confronting. It’s obvious all these addicts are not popping pills because of tennis elbow.

Which brings me to what I think may truly be the most ingenious gift anyone could buy for that someone “who has everything” — everything but peace of mind.

Mind you, it’s not available quite yet. But it will be in time for Mother’s Day.

So get out those smart phones, that credit card that isn’t over limit yet, and get ready to pre-order this amazing gift, because they’ll be going fast.

This year’s “boy-will-they-be-surprised!” gift recommendation for mom from John Rachel . . .

THE DELUXE HOME ELECTRO-SHOCK THERAPY KIT!

And offering another clue why Jeff Bezos is now personally worth $235 billion, this unique and assuredly invaluable addition to the array of modern home appliances that every family simply must have is exclusively available from Amazon!

The April 26th Kucinich Report article opened with: “On April 27, Washington will become the stage for a rare convergence of power, people, and principle.”

Wow! Punchy! Powerful! Promising!

I confess my love for alliteration — as evidenced in my Mobilization Without Method Is Meaningless manifesto — and moreover a particular affection for the letter ‘P’.

P … as in popular? This is the most popular video on YouTube as of this writing, with 5,920,628,186 views. That’s billion, folks!

P … as in poetry? Hmm. You mean like Eminem? No! You know. Like poetry slams. Cage fighting culture. I slam, therefore I am. Sounds familiar. Isn’t that Dr. Seuss?

P … as in pornography? Apparently, porn — at least porn on the web — is becoming more and more popular. Then again, there’s so damn much pornography everywhere you look nowadays. Isn’t drone assassination porn? How about whole communities going bankrupt from mismanagement and theft. Pillage porn. Read all about how much trouble our major cities are in here! Or watch it on everyone’s favorite porn channel, Fox News.

P … as in polygamy? We had our chance to put a polygamist in the White House. Well, not a polygamist per se. But one belonging to a religion which institutionally peddles polygamy. It could have been an interesting chapter in the whole DOMA thing, eh?

P … as in pedophile? Probably we have more on our hands than we realize, some in very high places. But what can we expect? We have runway models who are thirteen, beauty contests for pre-schoolers, more hypocrisy about sex and sexuality than the Catholic Church — speaking of pedophilia! — a population pumped up on steamy ads, hot bods, prurient celebrity gossip, and a panoply of pharmaceuticals which despite their pervasive abuse can’t keep all this libidinous heavy-breathing in check. Lovely. Simply lovely.

P … as in patriarchy? A strong contender. We men have made a complete mess of the world, not satisfied with occasional penile penetration, we have to launch our phallic analogs in every shape and size of projectile, missile, bullet and bomb into every nookie and cranny of the world — so much soft succulent flesh, so little time — jumping up and down with ecstatic glee at the ultimate ejaculation, the nuclear bomb. What can I say? Everyone knows this. It’s an old story with the latest trimmings.

P … as in patriotism? A noble, if much abused concept. But don’t get all patriotic as in standing up for the Constitution. Edward Snowden will tell you how that works out.

P … as in power? Hmm. We’re getting close. That’s one musical chair that stays in the game, especially unchecked by any moral restraint or sense of public duty. As we say: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Absolutely!

P … as in politics? A dirty business to be sure. Not that it has to be that way. What is it? The kind of people it attracts? Or the people they become?

P … as in politicians. Somewhere it’s written that these guys are supposed to serve us, the people who elected them. But they’ve become a bunch of traitorous lapdogs to corporate elites who openly thumb their noses at you and I. It sucks, eh?

P … as in plutocracy. Getting very warm. These are the scoundrels who don’t even bother to give lip service anymore to the idea of egalitarianism. They view the rest of us as pigs. Nothing new. Hitler. Stalin. King Henry VIII. Blah blah blah. It’s exhausting. Let’s all sing Hail To The Chief. Of course, the President won’t have time to listen. He’s busy hanging out with all his billionaire friends.

P … P … P …

I think I’m going to go with . . .

P … as in plunder.

America is both plunderer and plundered. You would think it would be enough for the self-proclaimed entitlement class to use America’s economic and military power to strip mine the rest of the world. But no! Now the ruling elite has its eyes on the ultimate prize. America itself! How much is enough? They don’t even understand the question.

So we watch in wonder and awe as our resources, natural and human, are sucked dry to bolster a bottom line that is the top priority — the only priority — in a system that assigns no value to anything but what can be monetized, i. e. price-tagged.

Is this really the only way we can measure progress?

I think not. And probably many agree with this. But it’s so hard. We don’t ever see ads for sunsets or generational respect or love between parent and child. Sure, we see those thing in ads. But to sell more cars, cosmetics, wonder drugs, smart phones, digital sausage makers, AI created books and music, stuff we don’t really want, need and soon won’t be able to afford.

Ever look around the room when the TV’s on?

What do you see? People completely ignoring one another. People oblivious to one another. People who will die. Then the others in the room will come to regret those lost moments of sharing, companionship, communication, just basic human contact. At least they will regret them until their favorite sitcom, reality show or a new Netflix movie comes on. Whew . . .

What a depressing thought.

Am I being too pessimistic? I don’t think so.

Actually, I’m still optimistic.

Marginally optimistic anyway.

There are other ‘P’ words.

How about P … as in people? There is the potential for greatness in everyone. There is the promise of better-than-yesterday. There are propositions we embrace: All men are created equal. Love thy neighbor. Do unto others. Principles we hold dear: Government by the people, of the people, for the people. All are equal before the law. Let no man be judged by the color of his skin.

When we are not driven by greed, frenzied by fear, blinded by hate, crippled by despair, possessed by prejudice, misled and misinformed, most people are good to one another. Humans are social animals, curious and able to adapt. When we are not artificially divided, we remain naturally united. This is almost impossible to see now, much less celebrate, in a world whose political engines are powered by disunity and discontent.

How about P … as in praise? How about giving praise where it’s due? Not Pavlovian praise. But praise based on the values we hold dearest and nearest to the center of our souls. Not iconic fan worship. Praise offered for ennobling acts of courage and generosity.

How about P … as in pray?

I’m not a religious person. But praying in some form or another is universal. I’ve seen it on every continent, in countries rich and poor. What is praying but visualizing something positive for those around you and the community you live in? Or the whole planet? Or the entire family of man?

How about P … as in participate? Even the most rugged individualists overcome pride, prejudice, and apathy to work in consort with others. Alone things can be difficult. But joined together in group action, individual but equal, the impossible becomes possible.

Finally, there’s P … as in perfection? We’ve sure got a ways to get there. But we reach for the stars, because even if we fall far short, we only risk ending up on the highest peaks here on Earth. Maybe we’ll find room at the top for everyone this time.

I have to confess, though. There was a time when I truly believed in the perfectibility of humankind. That was when I was young and naive.

Now I believe in the improvability of humankind.

Maybe now I’m just old and naive . . . I sure hope not.

Okay . . . enough with the ‘P’ words.

My lips are tired from all the puckering.

And I’ve blown out my candle.

Oh . . . one last thing. I’d slightly amend the opening remark by Kucinich.

“On April 27, Washington will become the stage for a rare convergence of the powerless, pathetic, and puerile.”

It doesn’t have to be this way. But the American citizens in their utter confusion, apathy, and cowardice are making that choice. It’s called democracy . . . by neglect.

TRANSCRIPT:

Humans are about fables, myths, parables, tales. Meaning that we take and understand the world through stories. Stories about ourselves, our world, the supernatural world, worlds beyond, the real world and worlds imagined.

These narratives answer the hundreds of questions which understandably arise from just living. These stories give meaning and coherence to events and forces which otherwise might seem disconnected, disjointed, even random.

The Bible is a perfect example of story after story about what happened, how humans behave, what God did, our relationship to God, and this offers guidance to how we should behave and offers insights into what we can expect in the future.

As each individual has a story, so does each family, each community, every region. Whole societies and entire nations also have a story.

As citizens of perhaps the most powerful, richest nation in history, we are given a story, a narrative, a national mythology which presents a picture of what our nation is about, what it stands for, and thus offers guidance to how we citizens should behave and insights into what we can expect in the future.

One of the key story lines of that narrative, the one I’m addressing here, is that the U.S. uses its wealth, its military might, its diplomatic resources, its intellectual talent, its good intentions to spread peace and democracy around the globe.

But look around you. Is the world moving toward peace? Is all of the effort we’re putting into fighting terrorism and other enemies of our country making us safer? Less likely to have enemies and be embroiled in constant conflict?

The U.S. last year [2016] dropped 26,171 bombs on seven countries, none of which are we actually at war with. There’s tens of thousands of troops stationed at nearly a 1000 bases in 145 countries. It seems like we should be making some headway, doesn’t it?

Yet, what do we see in the news? Supposedly we now see “bad people” everywhere out there. Though we’ve spent trillions of dollars trying to exterminate evil, mysteriously more evil seems to pop up wherever we look. Don’t you find this at best puzzling, at worst very frightening?

So I’m prompted to ask: Is it possible that the forces of evil are winning?

Or an opposite question: Is there something wrong with what we’re doing? Meaning, is there something dramatically wrong with the story we’re being told?

I don’t doubt the sincerity of the vast majority of Americans. As citizens, in our innocence, our credulity, our faith in the wisdom and moral integrity of those who we look to for leadership, we want to believe that we’ve installed good men and women, trustworthy public servants, who are loyal to the Constitution, understand the enormous responsibilities of the choices and decisions they make, are good and decent human beings. Is this naive?

Going back to the Bible, we see epic stories of corruption, deceit, hypocrisy, treachery. As capable as we as human beings are living righteously, we are also capable of enormous, profound evil.

So let me put my question a very different way: Is it possible that there are those among us who are so godless, so immoral, so committed to the service of evil, they will do anything to promote the destructive, homicidal scourge of war as part of a toxic, hidden agenda?

After hundreds of hours of research, looking at original documentation, and often viewing the history and facts that are hidden before our very eyes, meaning available to anyone who just takes the time to look, I’ve reached some shocking conclusions. These definitely run completely contrary to the glittering narrative that we are being given by our government officials, the media, and even many of our political and spiritual leaders, on whom we depend for wisdom and guidance.

1. Our entire current foreign policy is a lie.

2. The real agenda of our military might is world domination.

3. Our imperial ambitions serve a tiny, rich and powerful elite at the enormous expense to the rest of us.

4. We are now being driven to a catastrophic, apocalyptic major world war, which may end all life on the planet.

5. This fraud and intrinsically evil enterprise must be stopped, and only the good, decent citizens of our nation who constitute a huge and potentially powerful majority, can stop it.

All of my research, conclusions and ideas for ending the military madness which now consumes vast amount of our human and national resources, and more and more captivates the public eye, is contained in what I call the Peace Dividend Project.

I can’t promise you that what I have to say will be comforting or fun, but in the end the Peace Dividend is hopeful and builds on the best of what we as human beings are capable of. I hope you’ll join me in promoting the peace and harmony that’s central to the kind of world we wish to hand down to future generations.

For a thumbnail sketch of the Peace Dividend concept and strategy, please visit our website at: https://peacedividend.us . . . and for a detailed explanation, including historical background and precise policy analysis, please read “America’s Hijacked Peace Dividend”.

Now available:

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Professor Phyllis Dornberger – my PhD thesis adviser – and I certainly had our share of disagreements. About everything.

I could have been intimidated. I mean, here was a lady who read the dictionary on her lunch hour like it was People Magazine.

But I was confident and stood my ground, with naïve posturing that was equal parts youthful impudence and iconoclastic exuberance.

Dornberger was a logical positivist. I’m an existential relativist.

It should have been no contest.

Indeed, it wasn’t.

Yes, in the end, she got the best of me. The price for my impatience, my lack of self-control, my smug display of tactlessness, my colossal tactical faux pas in the requisite art of jockeying for advantage – which is really all philosophical discourse is about anyway – was asymmetrical in the extreme, with no room for negotiation, no room for remediation, no recourse or appeal. Philosophers don’t mess around. Especially logical positivists.

My comment was innocent enough.

But what floats frivolously in casual repartee bubbles like the caustic acid of vitriol and mockery on a page – especially an intra-departmental memo.

What can I say in my defense?

Too much bubbly spirits is sometimes a good excuse. But in this case, a roll of duct tape with the Kölsch pale ale would have helped to mitigate my infantile error in judgment. Hindsight is so powerful but ultimately useless.

I now know . . .

I never should have called Professor Dornberger an insatiable proof sucker searching for the perfect syllogism, if only she could figure out how to deep throat a syllo and swallow the gism.*

The result? This was the shameful closing scene of my career as a philosopher . . .

[ *Author’s Note: A syllogism is a term in logic, referring to an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premises), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and shares a common or middle term not present in the conclusion. ]

As the authors who join us here as part of the Substack community will tell you: Promoting a book, i.e. getting people to give it the attention it deserves, is a Herculean task.

My book, “The US and Perpetual War”, was published almost three years ago, May 15, 2023. It featured interviews with 22 world-renowned academicians, journalists, political analysts, and alternative media gurus: Noam Chomsky, Dennis Kucinich, Scott Ritter, Ajamu Baraka, Margaret Kimberley, Paul Craig Roberts, Cynthia McKinney, Larry Wilkerson, Larry Wilkerson, Norman Solomon, among others.

“The US and Perpetual War” is by a long stretch my most commercially successful book!

I attribute the phenomenal popularity and sales of this book to the unique custom graphics used in its promotion.

Mind you, I only employed Photoshop. Now with AI, the possibilities are mind-blowing.

Anyway, here are the graphics.

Holy moly! Everybody’s talking about it! One of the best political books of the year!

“OMG! Only $2.99 for the Kindle ebook. I’m stoked!”

“Follow your passion! Even if it means war!”

The word is out . . . and the word is ‘Namaste’!

Just when you thought it was safe to light a candle!

Oh yeah, baby! You can feel the buzz!

It’s a meeting of the minds, for sure! Only $2.99 for the Kindle ebook.

“This is no conspiracy theory. John Rachel has really done it this time!”

“It’s here! One of the most anticipated political books of the year!”

Don’t be the last one on the block to own it!

As an eBook . . .

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• Scribd

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As a Deluxe Paperback . . .

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• Deluxe paperback direct from printer

“Such bitter torment and angst is my lot.”

Folks, I am deeply saddened — perhaps a bit shocked.

I received several thousand complaints about my previous two “creativity” blogs, all objecting that they were rather light on actual technique.

I’ve gotten the message loud and clear. This time I will be very specific about the process . . . in this case that of creating a phenomenal poem.

Before we get started, I confess I’m having difficulty recalling why I started writing poetry.

Frankly, I hate poetry. I find it tedious and incomprehensible.

Aah! Now I remember.

It was an ad I saw a few years ago.

That sure didn’t pan out.

But I did manage to crank out a few poems and at least got the hang of it. So here we go.

Writing a poem . . .

Rhythm is very important in poetry. So when I write poems I always wear headphones with either Eminem or Lil John blasting away at 125 db. That tunes me in to the naturally occurring “beats” of the English language.

I wait for a word or phrase to pop into my head.

Tabula rasa.

Cool.

Now I think of pop singers and movie stars.

Crystal Gayle . . . The Artist Formerly Known As Prince . . . Tom Cruise . . . Brooke Shields.

Excellent! A veritable goldmine.

I chop them up and throw them together, trying to sound deep and intellectual.

A gale reels topsy turvy / Unknown be the blind enigma / Who shield the arrogant prince / Art shan’t brook the prayers / Cruise lightly the tabula rasa / Crystal now keens the water goddess / Hear the rumbling tom tom / Why dost thou feed the feral beast?

Admittedly this makes no sense. So we’re on the right track.

Now we find rhyming words for the first, third, fifth and seventh lines.

nervy / rinse / pasta / condom

Next we create lines ending in these words.

Conscience writhes a hollow nervy / Invisible angels fear the rinse / Yet twirl the Hades voidal pasta / Time warps he who pricks the condom

Notice that I made up a word. This is an excellent technique for putting your readers on the defensive, playing on the fear that their vocabulary is embarrassingly wanting.

Recognizing that rhyming, perhaps once the delight of long dead poets, is now among the heady and hyper-cerebral denizens of modern literary excellence laughably passé — more the tinker toys of vapid pop songsters — it’s time to dig out our good old Thesaurus, either analog or digital will do just fine, and make some tasteful substitutions.

Conscience writhe a hollow pluck / Invisible angels fear the cleanse / Yet twirl the Hades voidal spaghetti / Time warps he who pricks the sheath

Insert these in the initial set of lines.

Okay. Almost done. Now we need a title.

Tabula Rasa #???

Always choose a prime number. Let’s see. ’11’ is such a cliche. ’13’ was ruined by horror flicks. Bob Dylan screwed up ’12’ and ’35’. They’re not prime numbers anyway.

How about? . . .

Tabula Rasa #23

Perfect! Okay, now formatting is of paramount importance. Modern poetry really shows its inherent rebellious character here. Total non-conformity! Left alignment is boorishly 17th and 18th Century, right alignment hackneyed 20th Century, and centering is for symmetry fetishists with terminal OCD.

Same goes for punctuation. Not that poets know how to punctuate in the first place. But the point is why waste such a terrific opportunity for abstruseness? Randomly scattering punctuation throughout the poem is the perfect method for adding a tasteful dose of sheer madness and syntactic chaos!

Alright! Let’s put it all together. Behold our new masterpiece . . .

Notice how I slipped a near-rhyme in at the end. That should stir up some controversy!

Okay. That was easy, eh?

If you feel the need to verify my credentials, just click here and look at the several poems I’ve had published over the past few years.

Scribo ergo sum.

With the incredible, longstanding success of my second novel, 11-11-11, released back in 2011 but still hanging in there at #118,496 on Amazon’s Fiction/Coming of Age/Fantasy/Bible Belt/Zombies /High School Cheerleaders best-seller list, people often ask me:

“John, how do you come up with your characters?”

First, I drive my Mercedes to a local ramen restaurant, where not only do they have great meals, but I can get my kitchen knives sharpened.

I walk in and sit down. I say something in Japanese. They just roll their eyes.

An eighty-five-year-old lady is across from me, slumped over at her table. She might be breathing but I don’t see how, with her face immersed in the bowl of noodles.

I picture her as a twenty-year-old university student, dressed in either sexy lingerie from Fredericks of Hollywood, or a Lycra fetish costume purchased from an online store in the West Village. There’s a tennis ball strapped in her mouth.

Now . . . what is she feeling?

Suddenly, an off-duty Japanese police officer drives through the front of the restaurant on a Harley Davidson. There is broken glass and disposable chopsticks everywhere!

Inspiration!

And the plot thickens.

I thought the police officer had tattoos on his arms but they are just temporary removable sheer hosiery tattoos he picked up in Thailand, while on his police precinct’s annual sex tourism holiday.

He orders the lunch special, Salty Miso Beef Ramen with Deep-Fried Pork Dumplings on the side. Of course, all the rice you can eat is included . . . and it’s free!

Now I hear the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead. Understandably, my first instinct is that it must be American Navy Seals either conducting exercises or mounting a raid. There are so many suspicious people everywhere you look these days. Especially here in Japan!

But no, it’s a medical rescue team. Four paramedics tethered to long nylon ropes drop down onto the street out front. They rush into the restaurant. The first medic through the door grabs the old lady’s hair. He violently yanks her head out of the bowl of ramen, then gagging, gives her mouth-to-mouth. But it’s too late. Her wind pipe is clogged with congealed noodles. She is dead.

While they drag her body out of the restaurant to hoist it into the helicopter, some young boys, probably elementary school age, are passing. Several of them are taunting a pathetic little guy, who unfortunately is cross-eyed and suffers acute lymphedema. His legs look like pontoons, very unusual for someone his age. The other boys are mocking him by chanting: “Dalai Lama! Dalai Lama!”

Hmm. I don’t get this. Dalai Lama? But I can use it! Sometimes you need something a little off the wall to keep a reader’s attention.

All this time I’ve been slurping away. The food here is truly amazing! My bowl is just about empty, when a huge stabbing pain shoots through my gut. I feel like someone has stuck a samurai sword in my belly button, twisting it like they’re wrapping pasta around a fork.

Food poisoning!

I don’t know why I keep coming here. Every time I eat here — I mean every time! — it’s the same thing. I get food poisoning and spend the next six hours . . . well, you know.

My only excuse for this habitual self-sabotage is that this place has been so good for my writing. This is where it all starts. The huge cast of misfits and miscreants that populate my stories are all denizens of the social tapestry of this little hole-in-the-wall soup shop.

I’ll tell you something else. No way am I giving away my secret.

You can try Googling “ramen shops Japan” if you like.

Ha! Good luck finding it.

_________________________________________________________

Maybe you already bought a copy. But if you haven’t and were thinking about it, deluxe paperback copies and ebook copies of 11-11-11 are available from all the major online bookstores.

As an iBook from Apple . . . apple.co/1JLG0uR
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Every popular ebook format at Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1PwjEN8
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Here are what readers have been saying so far about my whimsical but dark satire of life in contemporary rural Bible-belt America . . .

“If you only read ONE Book this year – This is the one to read.
John has a UNIQUE Talent to – Develop Characters,
and this book has a LOT of – Characters – in it.
John writes like a combination of – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr and Elmore Leonard.
John Rachel – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr – Elmore Leonard
It does NOT get better than THAT.
I first learned of the book on FaceBook, AND I am sure glad I did.
John is a TRUE – WordSmith – Thanks John.” – Kenneth Jarvis

“This is the best book I’ve read in a long long time. I usually stick to non-fiction and serious heady novels. So I looked at this one and almost took a pass, thinking it was just frivolous junk. I am so glad I didn’t! Not only was this book incredibly entertaining but I was greatly rewarded with some amazing insights into the human condition and a really unique perspective on contemporary American life. Sure it’s got laughs. But underneath the silliness are rich layers of thoughtful satire and profound allegory. This is a great book!” – Tom Dorsey

“John Rachel is a truly gifted author. He weaves his tales on a truly vivid and visceral level, leaving the reader breathless. A work of genius!” – Ron Ruiz

“Check out the table of contents. If it doesn’t make you want to read the book check your pulse. Interesting, fun, and witty, with a wry, sardonic sense of humor–a Vonnegut meets Christopher Moore drive-it-like-you-stole-it joyride.” – Travis Rood

“This book weaves thousands of real events into a deliciously humorous and twisted story that portrays America, its values, and the people contained within quite accurately.” – Ron Hildebrandt

Less visceral and lighter in tone than his hard-hitting tale of sexual trafficking “From Thailand With Love” “11-11-11” is nonetheless just as sharp with its satirical bite. On this faux apocalyptic sortie, John Rachel follows his aptly named hero Noah on an increasingly desperate ramble through the rural Bible-belt of America, colliding with white supremacists, meth heads and gullible politicos along the way. The American dream of being allowed to start afresh seems in jeopardy here as nearly everything the hapless Noah turns his hand to crumbles and turns to sludge. How fitting for the times we live in. – Nic Penrake

With my monumental, cross-cultural, myth-shattering, paradigm-shifting novel, Love Connection: Romance in the Land of the Rising Sun — my tenth novel! — racing up the charts to #2,718,085 at the Amazon Kindle store, people sometimes ask me:

“John, how do you get inspired to write?”

First, I turn on the fan. Then I suddenly realize I that forgot to take out the garbage. So I do that. Of course, now I see there’s all sorts of gunk in the bottom of the garbage container from the tomatoes that went bad and the mushrooms that turned to slime. So I have to clean up that mess.

Finally, I pour a cup of coffee and sit down to write. Oops! Forgot to check my FB account. Whoa!! 87 new notices. People loved that video I posted of a kitten chasing a rhinoceros. Hmm. Bad news. It looks like over 30 people deleted me as a friend. Cold! What did I do? Could it have been the blog I wrote about Donald Trump being a pedophile?

I’m exhausted. Writing sure takes it out of me.

I decide I need a nap. I’ll get 20 winks, wake up fresh, ready to really roll!

I try to sleep. But they are slaughtering a yak next door, beating it to death with garden rakes. You’d think they could come up with a more humane way to kill the thing. Jeeez!

I take a sip of wine from a newly opened bottle to try to relax. I decide to just finish the whole thing off.

The next few hours are a blank. I wake up in the bathtub. I’m hugging a bag of fertilizer. The doorbell is ringing.

I run to see who it is. Ah! The post man. My new AI Fiction Writing software has arrived. Excellent! This could be the shot in the arm my career needs.

I spend the rest of the day trying to install the program. My Windows laptop keeps giving me error messages.

The library catalog file ‘clusterfck.dll’ is missing. Please reinstall operating system.

After five hours of this, I am famished!

I head down to the drive-thru window for Magic Rainbow Happy Luck. It’s Chinese fast food. But they refuse to serve me because I’m on a bicycle. I go inside. Everything is in Chinese. I order something by pointing. They bring me monkey entrails on a croissant. Not very appetizing. They have no ketchup. Ugh!

This would be a total waste of time, except thinking ahead, I brought my laptop. Munching away, being careful to keep the blood and grease from dripping into my keyboard, I begin . . .

Once upon a time, there was a large tree in the middle of an island. A boy of eleven years old, dressed in just a loincloth and seashell beads, leaned against it. A stranger approached him from behind. The boy turned. The man was wearing a ‘Donald Trump — MAGA’ button.

Alright!

Now we’re getting somewhere.

__________________________________________________________________________

Available online to get you started on an exciting, charming literary adventure.

Carpe diem!

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Why should the U.S. wage war on Iran?

There are so many answers to that question, it’s difficult to know where to begin. But here are a few right off the top of my head, based on our current foreign policy and the thinking mapped out by the truly remarkable collection of political geniuses currently at the helm.

Please stand at attention with your hands over your hearts, as I offer 25 reasons why the U.S. should attack Iran.

1) Because we can.

2) We have all these bombs.

3) What good is a military if you don’t use it?

4) We love spreading chaos!

5) Destroy, divide, conquer.

6) Have you ever seen Ayatollah Khomeini on Dancing With The Stars? Obviously he hates our freedom and our television shows.

7) God told Trump to do it.

8) Israel told Trump to do it.

9) Lindsey Graham told Trump to do it.

10) Peace is for pussies. War is for winners.

11) We want to start a world war (see #2 above).

12) International politics is a bodybuilding contest. We need to show our muscles to the feeble slobs who make of the rest of the world.

13) It’ll piss off Russia.

14) It’ll piss off China.

15) It’ll piss off Hillary Clinton because she wanted to be the one to start it.

16) Donald Trump will get re-elected for a third term because when we’re at war we have to rally behind the president (I think it’s somewhere in the Bible: “Don’t change horses’ asses in the middle of a war.” Leviticus? Corinthians?)

17) Hollywood needs new settings for its upcoming war movies.

18) War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.

19) Americans love war as long as it’s NIMBY. Iran so far away.

20) Reza Pahlavi.

21) War makes lots of money for investors, especially the already ultra-rich.

22) It’ll hasten the Rapture.

23) Mirian Adelson.

24) Iranians revealed their diabolical anti-Americanism by putting their country in the middle of all our military bases.

25) CNN and Fox have their ‘War With Iran’ news broadcast graphics ready.

There’s more. But I think this is a damn good start!

You have a problem with this? Too bad.

With what is becoming public knowledge via the release of the Epstein files, if the people don’t rise up and throw the vile pigs, the predatory scumbags, out of power, prosecuting and imprisoning them as dictated by law, then there’s no hope. The United States of America will quickly plunge into to sewer of history.